Burning Crimson
by TheBradical1
Summary: Damien, a teenager from Pallet Town is sent off into his own Pokemon Adventure.
I get up, after having slept for the majority of the morning. I didn't sleep well. I had a strange dream about my neighbour, Professor Oak. In it, he was telling me about Pokémon. I never claimed to be the smartest, but it'd take a total imbecile to not know what Pokémon are. They're what our world revolves around. They do a lot for us. They're defenders, pets, friends, and, to some dark people, weapons. I don't know Oak very well, but he's my best friend's grandfather, so I've met him on a few occasions. Then my dream-Oak said something strange. He said my very own Pokémon legend was about to unfold. I didn't even have a Pokémon of my own.

I decide not to dwell on it, and get dressed. Ten minutes later, I'm looking in the mirror at myself. I'm about 5'9", thin-bodied, with shaggy dark hair, held down by a red cap. I'm sixteen, but I haven't gotten so much as stubble on my face. Now that I'm presentable, I go outside.

Pallet Town, my hometown, isn't a big town. We don't even have a Pokémon Centre. I go next door, to see if Josh, my best friend, is home. I knock, then enter. He isn't, but his sister, Daisy is. She's looking at a map of the Kanto Region. Daisy, the same age as Josh and I, is tall and thin, with wavy blonde hair, currently tied back in a pony-tail. She's wearing a green dress and no shoes, which is an amazing look for her. Then again, I figure anything would be an amazing look for her.

I see her and fumble to make sure my hat is straight, I don't have anything on my face, and my fly is zipped before the door closes. My hat was straight, at least. But I had cereal crumbs on my face and my fly was down. She hears the door close, and looks up. "Oh. Hey Damien." She says, brushing a stray bit of hair out of her face "Josh isn't home. He's over at Grampa's lab."

"Oh, thanks Daisy." I manage to say, without making a total fool of myself. "I guess I'll see you around," I turn around and walk back outside. I have a little bit of a crush on Daisy, which I've never pursued, due to not wanting to damage my friendship with Josh.

Oak's lab, where he lives, is a large, white, brick building that dominates Pallet Town. I go inside, and it's filled with lab equipment and assistants. I notice three PokéBalls on a table off to one side of the room. Josh is here too, a tall guy with sandy-blonde hair, fair skin, and a cruel, hard face. He's reading something on one of the machines, and hears me come in.

"Oh. It's just you. Gramps isn't here," he says, looking disappointed.

"Where is he?"

"Heck if I know. He's probably out on the route looking for Pokémon."

"Let's go find him."

"Nah. He'll be back, so I'm just gonna wait on him." Josh isn't really a man of action.

"I'm not. There's no telling when he'll be back, and I kinda want to talk to him about some stuff."

"K. See ya."

I turn and walk outside. I start to go down Route 1, but I hear an older man's voice, I recognize to be Oak. "Wait! Don't go out alone!" I turn around, and see Oak himself jogging up to me. The man must be about sixty, but you couldn't tell by looking at him. He looks like he might be forty. He continues talking once he's caught up with me. "Wild Pokémon live in the tall grass out there. I know! Follow me!" Then without waiting on a response, he turns and walks back to his lab. I follow him, figuring maybe I'd have a chance to talk to him. Maybe he'd let me borrow a Pokémon to go catch my own.

When we get back into his lab, Josh sees us, and walks over. "Gramps! I'm tired of waiting." On what, I have no clue. But Oak must.

"Josh?" He asks, as if he'd forgotten he had a grandson. "Let me think. Oh! That's right! I asked you to come by. Hang on." Then he looks at me.

"Here, Damien. There are three Pokémon here. When I was young, I was a serious Trainer. But now I have only these three left. You can have one."

Before I can ask if he's sure, Josh practically explodes. "Hey Gramps! What about me? I'm your grandson! I deserve one too!"

"Josh, hang on. You can have one, too," Oak says, as if giving away all but his last Pokémon was nothing.

"Sir, are you sure?" I ask, now that I can get a word in. "I could just borrow one, go catch my own Pokémon, then bring yours back."

"I'm sure. There's no sense in a perfectly good Pokémon sitting here when it could go with you."

"Okay, thank you so much, sir."

"Damien," Josh starts, "Hurry up. I haven't got all day."

I walk over to the table. There are three PokéBalls here. Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander. Grass, Water, and Fire. It's a greatly important choice, but I decide almost immediately I want the Charmander. It's as if there's a little voice in my head whispering _Pick Charmander. With it, you could burn your competition to ash. You could dominate the Gym Challenge. Defeat the Elite Four. Become Champion._

The Pokémon Gym Challenge is the road to the champion. You have to battle eight trainers, all considered experts in their own respective types. Then, you have to battle the Elite Four, the four best trainers in the region, next to the Champion. Then it's the current Champion. If you can do all that, you take up the mantle of Champion yourself. It takes a harcore trainer to do it, if nothing else because you have to walk all over Kanto. I'd always dreamed of being a great trainer, but never the Champion.

I pick up the PokéBall. "Professor Oak, I think I'll take Charmander."

"Are you sure? This Pokémon will be your companion for life."

"Yes I'm sure."

Glad I finally made a choice, Josh runs over and grabs Squirtle, without so much as a 'Thank you' to his grandfather. I turn to walk out, but Josh says, "Wait! We aught to test out our new Pokémon. I challenge you to a battle. As a trainer, you have to accept. Josh throws out his Squirtle, a small, blue, turtle. I push the button on my PokéBall and thow it to the ground between us. Charmander, an orange and yellow lizard, with a flame at the tip of its tail, springs forth from the ball. I know how to battle, and what Charmander knows. "Quick! Charmander! Use Scratch." I yell. Charmander rakes its small claws across Squirtle's stomach, but it doesn't do much damage. Josh responds by telling Squirtle to use Tail Whip. It wags its tail in a cute way, and Charmander lowers his guard a little. I tell Charmander to Scratch Squirtle again, to which Josh has Squirtle respond with Tackle. It does more damage than my initial attack, but not by much. I tell Charmander to Scratch Squirtle again, and he does, hitting Squirtle's snout this time, knocking the poor Pokémon out. The battle ends with Charmander gaining experience, and leveling up.

"What?" Josh sputters, "I can't believe it. I picked the wrong Pokémon!" Grudgingly, he gives me the $80 he owes me as a reward for the battle. I tell him he fought well. "Hmph." He grunts. "Not well enough. I'll fight a lot. Train my Pokémon to toughen it up. Then I'll beat you. Gramps, Damien. Smell you later!" With that rather rude parting, he darts outside.

I follow him, after thanking Oak once more and saying goodbye. I walk down Route 1, the connecting route between Pallet Town and Viridian City. I encounter a few Pokémon, a Rattata and a couple Pidgeys, but Charmander walks right through them, leveling up again, learning Ember this time. I get into Viridian, a city, but not much bigger than Pallet Town. It's only called a city because of the now-defunct gym that used to be the shining jewel of the place. I walk into the Pokémon Centre, give Charmander to the nurse behind the counter, and go to the Pokémart next door. The guy behind the counter sees me, and says "Hey, you from Pallet Town?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"You know Professor Oak, right?"

"Anyone from Pallet Town who doesn't know him lives under a rock."

"He got a package. Can you run it to him, please?"

"Sure."

"Thanks man," he says, handing me the brown, paper-wrapped parcel. I put it in my bag and head back to the Centre for Charmander. The nurse behind the counter hands him to me and I head back down Route 1 to Pallet Town. I walk into Oak's Lab, and up to the Professor.

"Oh, hello Damien. How's Charmander?"

"He's good sir," I say, releasing the little guy from his PokéBall. He jumps out,, expecting a battle, and obviously surprised to find he's back in the Lab again. He runs up to me, and I scratch the top of his head.

"Well, he seems to be rather attached to you now. You seem to be quite talented as a Trainer."

"Thank you, sir. The reason I came back wasn't for compliments, though they are appreciated. I have a package for you, from the PokéMart in Viridian City." I pull the parcel out of my pack, and hand it to Oak.

"Ah, it's the custom PokéBall I ordered. Thank you."

Just then, Josh barges in, "Gramps! What did you call me for?"

"Oh right," Oak says, remembering something. "I have a request for you two."

He walks over to a desk at the back of the room, which has two red devices. "These are my invention, the PokéDex. It automatically records data on Pokémon you've seen or caught, like a high-tech encyclopedia."

"Yeah? What of it?" Josh says. His disrespect towards his grandfather ticked me off at times.

"Well," Oak says, "I want you to take these with you, and fill them out." He grabs them, and hands one to each of us. "You can't get detailed information just by seeing a Pokémon, so you'll have to catch them. So here. To do that, you'll need these." He hands us both a small bag containing five PokéBalls.

"Is that all, Gramps? Leave it to me." Josh responds, with his usual haste and disrespect. Then he looks at me. "Damien, I hate to say it, but you won't be necessary for this." He turns and rushes out.

"Damien, don't worry about him." Oak says, as if he can tell I'm on the verge of going and knocking some sense into his grandson "Do your best. The only reason I even asked this of him is because he'd be quite unhappy with me if I'd only asked you. He's too impatient. You should ask my granddaughter if she has an extra Town Map. She's quite fond of you, so I figure she wouldn't mind helping you. Also, go talk to your mom. She should know what her son is up to. I'm counting on you Damien."

"Thank you, sir." I say, my ears red at his compliments.

I decide to go to my house first, and talk to Mom. She isn't really responsive at all. She's been like that for a while, since we lost Dad. I write that I'm going on a journey, and will be out for a long time, then stick it on the fridge, in case she realizes her son isn't home, but doesn't remember why.

I turn and walk out, then to Josh and Daisy's house. Daisy is still at the table, but she must have gotten up, because she now has shoes and a glass of water. I think about what Oak said, about her being fond of me. I'd had that crush, but to think maybe the feeling is mutual.

"Hey Daisy," I say, since she appears to not have noticed me this time.

"Oh! Damien!" She says, looking more than a little startled. "I didn't hear you come in. What's up?"

"Well, your grandfather has asked me to run an errand, and he figured you might have a Town Map to spare."

"I might have one. What's he asked you to do?"

"It's kinda a long story. Can I sit down and explain?"

"Yeah! Of course!"

I sit down opposite her at the table, and tell her about the day's events, including the voice I heard when I picked Charmander.

"Grampa asked you to go all over the Region catching Pokémon for him? That's incredible!" She says, once I finish. "Are you taking the Gym Challenge?

"I guess I will. It'll help fund my adventure, the battling. And I've always wanted to be a great trainer. I can't help but think that voice I heard when I was picking a Pokémon was right."

"I think you can do anything." She says, moving around to sit next to me, which surprised me a little. "You're a great person, and the great people always end up great Trainers. Pokémon are excellent judges of character." Then she did something I hoped for, but never figured she'd do in all my life. She kisses me. Not anything grand. Just a brief peck, but it is still the best feeling I've ever felt.

"Do me a favour, though?" She asks, afterward.

"Anything," I mumble, still reeling from the kiss. I truly meant anything. Right then, she could have asked me to carry my mother off a cliff, and I would have done it without hesitation.

"Come back safe, and as often as you can."

"Of course."

I walk outside, and am halfway to Viridian before I realized something. I never got that Town Map. I turn around and trot back.

"Daisy?" I say, opening the door.

"Yeah?" She responds, startled yet again by my arrival.

"Did you have a Town Map I could borrow?"

"Oh!" She exclaims. Apparently she had forgotten too. "Yeah! Here." She hands me the one on the table, the one she had been studying when I arrived the first and second times today. I thank her, and go back outside.


End file.
